Got this off Bookmooch, after reading strange_complex's review (in which she explores its literary antecedence of Doctor Who), and greatly enjoyed it. It is a murder mystery set in Oxford in 1938, solved by Gervase Fen, professor of poetry; the plot is convoluted and utterly implausible, but it is written with immense verve, energy and humour. Anyone who knows Oxford will appreciate the attention to local detail. (Anyone expecting a sort of prehistoric Inspector Morse will be disappointed.)